Fifteen hundred relatives of retirees will be given a 20 minute telephone interview on their exchanges with the retirees in the areas of mental health, physical health, protection, household tasks, and leisure pursuits. Their answers will be compared to those of the retirees which will be taken from ongoing research. The analysis will address the following questions: (1) when is it necessary to interview both kin and retirees, and when is it possible to interview only one in order to obtain accurate information on their exchanges, (2) what factors produce different perceptions of the exchange (e.g., physical infirmities, generational differences, life cycle differences, class and ethnic differences, geographical distance, sex role differences), and (3) how do these differences in perception of the exchange affect the ability of the retirees to achieve their goals in the various substantive areas such as mental health, physical health, protection, household tasks, and leisure activities. The study seeks to complement and enrich an ongoing investigation of the roles of kin, friends, neighbors, and formal organizations in goal achievement. As such the ongoing research is utilizing the framework of the theory of shared functions which suggests that to optimize goals both the natural support systems and the formal organizations are needed even though they have conflicting structures. The proposed study has added methodological significance in that it will contribute to a series of methodological and theoretical studies in different fields which seek to determine the extent to which all members of an interaction must be studied in order to obtain accurate information on the exchange.